After the opening of the Pearl Street Station, Edison underwent a series of legal and market battles. The first of these was with the inventor Joseph Swan, who filed suit against Edison in 1881. Swan claimed that he had prior claim to the ideas Edison utilized in preparing his lamp, a claim that was almost certainly true, but Edison was the one who produced a practical version of this lamp. All the same, a court victory was uncertain, and Edison went to Swan with a settlement plan. In 1883, the two inventors created Edison and Swan United Lighting Company, Ltd. In 1886, the British courts upheld Edison's basic carbon filament patent, keeping competitors from initiating legal actions of their own. This victory gave Edison and Swan United a near monopoly on the business until 1894.

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